The Portland daily press., 1887-03-10
A passamauuoddy Orator.

A Passamaquoddy Orator.
There was a novel proceeding in the House
of Representatives yesterday. A full blood
ed Indian, one Of the Passamaquoddies,
addressed the Representatives on the wrongs
of his race. Louis Mitchell Is the color of a
copper cent, and his hair is as black and
straight as only an Indians can be. At home
he tills the sofi, very little, makes baskets
and hunts the sea gull for the feathers which
are worn In the hats of the ladies' There
too, at the school of the Priest at Pleasant
Point he has learned to read and write. He
dresses like a river driver, and throws his
soft hat in bunch on the floor while waiting
the pleasure of the governor or the Legisla-
ture. But he is a very bright. intelligent
fellow. and knows all about his people and
their history. He says he furnished the tra-
ditions of the Passamaquoddies, which
Charles G. Leland Incorporated into "Algon-
kin Traditions" His speech was lis
tened to with great attention. 1t is not Of
ten that North American Indian is heard
in legislative halls and it is not often that
he can do as well As Mitchell did.
He began:
81 was authorized by the Passamaquoddy
| tribe Of Indians to come here before you for
the purpose OF making known to you what
| the Passamaquoddy Indian has done for the
| America people and how we have been used
| by the American people, and how we used
them in 1775 and '76 in the struggle between
Great Britain and the Americans. Your peo-
| pie came to us for assistance; you authorized
Col John Allen to speak to us, and you said,
He is our mouth. Believe HIM, what he
| says to you" After many kind words and
promises, Francis Joseph. who was the
chief Of the tribe at that time, accepted that
| offer. He promised him to 60 and help his
people to gain their independence. Immedi-
| ately he sent his captains to different parts
| OF the country to notify his people to prepare
tor Immediate war. In few days Francis
Joseph gathered an army of 600 men. At
that time and many years before that the
Passamaquoddy Indians were the headquar-
| ters of the Abnaki nation. The Passama-
quoddy tribe can show you by the statement
OF Josiah Drisco, Of Jonesport, how the Pas
Samaquoddy Indians faithfully fought for
the American people to help them gain their
independence; and the Passamaquoddy tIbe
can also show you by the affivavit of Will
liam Watt, of Jonesboro, Maine, how he was
alongside OF Francis Joseph. the chief. and
heard him ask permission of Capt Smith to
fire the first gun, and Capt. Smith gave him
permission. He fired and killed an officer
who was In the stern of the boat The dis
tance measured nearly three-quarters of a
mile from where he fired. And we also can
show you by that same affivavit how many
indians were In the army. 1t was GOO men
and they served two years. The Passama-
quoddy tribe can show you by the letter from
Col. John Allen, when he authorized the Pas
samaquoddy Indians to guard the coast from
Machias to Passamaquoddy Bay, and author
lied them to seize the enemy's vessels. And
according to his orders we can show you by
the affidavit of Captain Sopiel Sock Toma,
with fifty others of his tribe, how he cap
tured an armed schooner In Passamaquoddy
bay, and they ran her to Machias, and gave
her up to Col. John Allan, and We also can
show. you by the statement of John Allan,
Jr., how the Passsmaquoddy Indians fol-
lowed the enemy from Machias to Castine
The Passa maquoddies can show you by the
affidavit of Margaret Frost, who saw the In
dians at Castine, and telling how they faith
fully fought for the Americans"
After recounting these services Mitchell
came to the point at once:
I'VE know the Indians who served in that
war are passed out of existence, but Passa-
maquoddy tribe helped them, and the tribe
is still In existence. Now we humbly ask
your attention to help u.s."
The Passamaquoddies seem to think that
they have been considerably crowded as to
their lands, and their orator dwelt ON this
point at length:
+'Such lands granted to us: 80 acres at
West Quoddy Carrying Place; township of |
1900 acres; islands on the St. Croix river |
Now the land at West Quoddy is occupied |
by white people; the claims on the islands |
have been taken from us. Part of the town |
ship has been leased for term of 800 years,
two mile strip entire width of township s |
miles long given to rich man. worth prob |
ably half million dollars for road When |
they send petitions for these purposes they |
say this road benefit to the Indians. No Indi- |
an ever go through in that road once in |
ten years. This man has big farm back of |
this township. That is why he asked for |
AVsTTC CCIfa 20 hrrrI
ship. think the way see myself haint |
no road surveyor, but think so feet is wide |
enough for any road, instead of one mile |
wide"
About this rich man Louis is very bitter |
and he elaborated at some length on this |
particular grievance. But the greatest griev- |
ance of the Indians is the operation of the |
game laws. They claim that in 1927 Gov |
Dummer of Massachusetts made a treaty |
confirming them in their right to hunt and
fish without restriction. They hold that
Maine is bound by this agreement, and that |
they should be relieved of obedience to the |
game laws. To show what their original |
hunting grounds were Mitchell went into |
history little:
THE Indians of the Abnaki nation used |
TO nave constant war among themselves, |
at last they tired of fighting. So they held a |
general council of all the tribes of the Abna- |
XII nation, and the resolution of their council |
was that their hunting grounds should be |
river now called Miramachi; the St. John |
Indians have their own hunting grounds, |
also the Penobscots. of the Passamaquoddy |
Indians, the boundary of their hunting |
Pleasant river,30 miles this side of st. John, |
New Brunswick, 1t follows the coast to the |
westward to the mouth Of Cherryfeld or |
Narraguagus river, and follows 1t to the |
head of st. Croix river, from that to the head |
of Pleasant river, and follows it down to the |
coast. This includes all islands on the south |
coast from the mouth of Pleasant river to |
the westward of the mouth Of Cherryfeld |
river. This also includes all the lands and |
timber, all the wild animals once belonging |
Now we say to-day, nation or tribe Of pop |
ulation of 500 or more inhabitants You |
suppose will they give up their hunting |
privileges? When they depend of them on |
hunting? i say no. Not with their con-
sent"
His final plea to the assembly of the pow |
erful pale faces was as follows:
"Now this plainly shows us. How much |
worse are a people of $50 souls stripped of |
all their whole country, their privileges of |
which they depend of their living. OF all |
the land they claim they own now only 10 |
dCACo. II OuC VI bMU men UCIc III LillS DOu1
were Indians they would fight like braves |
for their rights. In
Now see to this yourselves, and see wheth- |
er am right or wrong. III you ind any In |
sulting language in my speech ask your |
pardon. / don't mean to insult anybody,
but simply tell you of my wrongs.
Woman Suffrage.
The woman suffrage resolution came into |
the House, to-day, President Marble having |
reversed his ruling that it would take two |
thirds vote to pass 1t to be engrossed. The |
House passed it to be engrossed by vote of |
67 to AZ, a vote which shows that the rosolu- |
tion will probably fail of the necessary two
thirds vote when it comes up on its final |
passage in the House as well as Senate. |
These were the yeas and nays to-day:
YEAs-Messrs. Alexander, Barker Beal, Bill |
ings Bowker, Bradish, Bradley, Bryant, Burns, |
Chase OF Edgcomb, Condor, Cook, Corson Cush- |
ing, Dawson, Dow, Eels, Engel, Field, Floyd, |
Foster, Friend, Clifford, Hamilton ofCumberland,
Harding of Gorbam, Hayden, Hodgkins, Hunter,
Jones, Jordan, Libby of Burnham, Libby of Mat
tawamkeag. Lombard, Looney, Lufkin, Lyons,
Marble, Nealley, Newbert, Noble, Palmer, Par:
cher, Pattangall. Pray, Purington of Bowdoin-
ham, Reynolds, Roberts Of Dexter, Russell, San
born of Standish. Shaw, Silsby, Small, Spinney,
Sturgis, Talbot, Varney, Wakefield, Walton. War
rem Of Buxton, Waugh, wentworth, Weymouth.
Whitmore, Widber, Wiggin, Wiley, Witham-.67.
NAYs-Messrs. Adams, Allen, Aver, Bennett,